Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the IDF’s “plans” for an operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.A military offensive, of which nothing has filtered, which arouses opposition from the United States and the UN.Which does not slow down the leader of the Hebrew state, determined to “return” to Rafah to “complete the elimination of the Hamas battalions”.
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Israel and Hamas at war
A large-scale offensive is being prepared against Rafah. While he has been promising for weeks to continue the war until the elimination of Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved “action plans” of the Tsahal, with a view to an operation on the town in the south of the Gaza Strip, located on the closed border with Egypt, and where, according to the UN, there are a mass of one and a half million Palestinians fleeing the bombings and the fights.
“The Israeli army is ready for the operational side and for the evacuation of the population”, according to the press release sent to the press on Friday March 15, which gives no further details on this major offensive announced long ago. An operation against which the United States and the United Nations continue to warn.
“I will continue to reject pressure. We will enter Rafah. We will complete the elimination of Hamas battalions”nevertheless repeated, Thursday March 14, on X (ex-Twitter) Benjamin Netanyahu, despite opposition from Washington, who fears for the lives of civilians who are refugees there. The Israeli leader asked the army last month to present him with a plan for evacuating civilians. The IDF submitted it to the war cabinet at the end of February, without anything filtering through.
The warning from the White House
Visiting Vienna, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “haven’t seen a plan yet” provided by Israel, while recalling that the United States demanded to have a “clear plan that can be implemented”.
The White House immediately said, “wish I had the opportunity to see it”. “We will not support a plan that does not take into account the million and a half Palestinians” refugees in this area, warned John Kirby, spokesperson for the American National Security Council.
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Not carrying out an offensive in Rafah would mean Israel “losing the war” against Hamas, according to Netanyahu
“A large-scale offensive in Rafah cannot be justified”reacted on X German diplomacy, two days before the visit of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Israel. “More than a million people have taken refuge there and have nowhere to go. There needs to be a ceasefire now.”
The fear of a “new massacre”
In Ramallah, in the West Bank, the presidency of the Palestinian Authority expressed “its deep concern about the imminence of an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, which could lead to a new massacre and new population displacements”according to the official Palestinian agency Wafa. “The presidency requested rapid intervention from the American administration and the international community to avoid this military offensive.”
The announcement of approval of the IDF’s plans for an operation on Rafah comes as hostage negotiations in Gaza are expected to resume with the announcement that an Israeli delegation will be sent to Doha, Qatar.